Mike Horvath turned in a strong pitching performance for Bath in the American Legion baseball tournament.

Mike Horvath turned in a strong pitching performance for Bath in the American Legion baseball tournament. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call)

Special to The Morning Call

MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP — To Tom Epsaro and Pat Mergel, the 2014 American Legion Region 2 Baseball Tournament is bringing back memories of 2012.

That year, the Bath team lost on Day 1 of the double-elimination tournament but rebounded and eventually came within a couple runs of claiming the regional crown.

"It's deja vu," Epsaro said.

Bath, with its 4-2 win over Pine Grove on Monday at Muhlenberg Township's Gochnauer Field, reached the Day 4 of the five-day Berks County tournament. The Northampton County champions play Nor-Gwyn at 3 p.m. today.

North Parkland exploded for five eighth-inning runs in Monday's nightcap and defeated Nor-Gwyn 5-4 in a battle of unbeatens. The Lehigh Valley League champions meet Norchester at 7:30 p.m. today.

Birches, which lost in 12 innings on Day 1, was eliminated from the tournament. The NorCo runners-up suffered a 13-3 setback in eight innings to Norchester in Monday's second game of the tripleheader.

Bath (18-9) parlayed a strong pitching performance by Mike Horvath and a handful of Pine Grove errors into a second straight victory.

A Liberty High graduate, Horvath allowed seven hits and three walks but repeatedly worked out of tenuous situations. He struck out six.

"Mike did a great job keeping his composure," said Mergel, the catcher. "He was throwing mostly a fastball and curveball, but after a rough start with his change-up, that pitch came around too. He got the big outs when he needed them."

The score was tied at 2 in the top of the sixth inning when Bath went ahead to stay.

Mergel, a Bethlehem Catholic product, ignited the rally with an opposite-field double just out of the reach of left-fielder Jed Blankenhorn. Pine Grove then committed consecutive errors, the second of which allowed Bath to score the decisive run. Collin McGeary and Mike John both were credited with RBIs in the inning.

"When they made their mistakes, that's when we scored our runs," Mergel said. "That's how you win ballgames."

It remains to be seen if Bath can reach Wednesday's tournament final. But the NorCo champions certainly know the path there, having traveled it before.

"Actually, this year reminds me of two years ago a lot," said Mergel, who bats third in Bath's lineup. "We just want to win one more game than that year."

Alex Specht, Bath's first-year manager, said either Mike Krawchuk or Mike John would start today's game.

North Parkland (23-2) is the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament after a furious rally against Nor-Gwyn in the eighth inning.

No. 9 batter Dan Zaccaro started the outburst with a double deep into the left-center field alley off Hawks starter Pat Hasson, who was brilliant through the first seven innings. Jeff Strisovsky laid down a perfectly placed bunt and reached for a single.

Justin Afflerbach then lined a single into center to score Zaccaro and tie the contest at 1. Aidan Flynn followed with a grounder past the drawn-in infield to plate Strisovsky with the decisive tally. Flynn faked a sacrifice bunt attempt, then chopped the ball into short right field on a well-executed play.

Jordan Jones drove in two runs with a line-drive double to right-center field and Brett Kosciolek capped the comeback with an RBI double.

"Early on we went up there and we were probably too aggressive," Flynn said of the team's approach against Hasson. "We tried to pull too many pitches. But by the eighth we'd seen him three times and we just tried to go up the middle and have good at-bats."

Kosciolek, along with relievers Nate Kern and Evan McAndrew, combined to throttle the Nor-Gwyn offense.

A 6-foot-7 right-hander, Kosciolek allowed just an unearned run in five innings of work. He worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second inning without allowing a run. Kern came on to start the sixth inning and picked up the win. The bearded righty ran into a wild streak in the bottom of the eighth inning but wiggled out, yielding just a run.

McAndrew entered with two on and no outs in the ninth inning and allowed both inherited runners to score before he retired Anthony Cameron on a fly ball to left field to end the game.

"The story of the tournament's been our pitching," Flynn said. "We've been able to get out of big jams and that's a testament to our pitchers."

Strivosky singled twice in four at-bats, Afflerbach picked up two hits, Jones went 2-for-4, Kosciolek cracked two doubles and Zaccaro added two hits to lead the North Parkland offense. Strivosky left in the eighth inning with a head injury and his status for tonight's game is uncertain.

North Parkland manager Terry Stoudt said McAndrew will start against Norchester.

Birches (14-14-1) was bounced from the tournament with an ugly loss but manager Al Foust is excited about his program's promising future.

After it opened a 3-0 in the top of the second inning, Birches committed four errors and allowed 13 unanswered runs over the final seven frames. Norchester broke open the close contest with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Matt Pierce and Brett Hardy both collected two hits for Birches.

"I'm happy with the way we ended the season," Foust said of the playoff run, "but I'm disappointed with the way we played today. Way too many errors, way too many mistakes. We'll have a good returning team and hopefully we'll be back here next year."